Prisons of Choice
by Amy Raine
Summary: Eight months after the end of the war, Toph visits the Fire Nation, and Mai finds in her a kindred spirit.


At first, she barely registered as a blip in Mai's consciousness. Odd, considering she had chased the Avatar and his friends across half the world. There had been that brief encounter when they rescued the Earth king and his bear, but that wasn't much to go on. The first time they had properly met was at the reopening of Uncle Iroh's tea shop, and she hadn't really paid any attention to the young blind girl.

(As an aside, it struck her as funny that she was thinking of him as 'Uncle Iroh' now, and not 'General Iroh' or 'Zuko's uncle'.)

So when Zuko asked if she could visit, Mai just nodded and thought nothing more of it.

Then Toph Bei Fong descended the ramp from the ship to the Royal Plaza, covered in dirt, spitting gobs of saliva and spirits knew what else onto the pristine stones, and Mai found herself both intrigued and horrified. The earthbender left behind dusty tracks on the palace floors, refused to bathe, and slept outside in the courtyard with a rock for a pillow. Though it was slightly amusing to hear the maids grumble after cleaning the same hallway floor for the fourth time in a row, the way this girl acted was just not appropriate for a companion to the Fire Lord.

"What do you see in her?" she finally asked her fiance. They sat in his study after sharing the noon meal with their guest, who had ended it by belching loudly, putting a muddy foot up on the table, and picking her toes.

Zuko looked up from the papers strewn on his desk. "Who, Toph?" He shrugged. "She's funny. She's like the little sister I wish I had." _Instead of the one I got, _was the unspoken end to that sentence.

"She's...different."

His mouth quirked up into a small smile. "You usually like different. Different means not boring."

"True. But since I'm going to be your wife soon, I have to care about petty things like reputation and appearance."

Zuko's smile widened. "You don't have to worry about that with her. Trust me."

Mai spent the rest of the afternoon supervising the set up of the formal dining hall for the dinner party that night. She hated planning these stupid things, hated going to them even more, but shortly after her release from prison, her mother had given her a long lecture about what was expected of the woman who would be Fire Lady someday. Mai would never admit it, not even upon threat of being burned alive, but her mother was right about these things. Her dinner parties were the talk of the nation—or had been, until Mai threw her first one a few weeks after Zuko's coronation. The new Fire Lord gained a notch or two in the estimation of the nobility for choosing such a well-bred and elegant young woman as his future bride. No one but a few palace servants knew how afterward, Zuko and Mai had destroyed the décor from the tapestries to the tablecloths with blade and fire, only their eyes betraying their glee and satisfaction.

As the guests streamed in, Mai moved from group to group and made polite conversation, but her eyes kept straying toward the door, certain that at any moment, Zuko's little friend would barge in with her dirty face and loud, brash voice and ruin the whole thing. She nearly wished it would happen, partly for the relief from the constant anxiety, and partly because the expression on the faces of these snooty people she had grown up among would almost be worth the scandal.

Wound up as she was, it took Mai a few minutes to realize that a petite young lady in a confection of green, rose, and cream had entered, her dark hair piled expertly on her head. Only when the girl drew closer and she saw her clouded eyes did she realize who it was. Zuko, his face a careful mask of politesse—which had taken months of coaching, but the boy did learn eventually—walked over to Toph and offered her his arm, then guided her to the two generals he was speaking to. At this distance Mai couldn't hear what they were saying, but she saw Toph's lips move, and all three men broke into laughter.

Fascinated, Mai watched as Toph charmed her way through group after group of stuffy Fire Nation nobles and military leaders. Admiral Chan didn't seem as impressed as the others, but he had always been a stuck up jerk, like his twit of a son.

A few hours later, when the last of the guests were drunkenly making their way to their palanquins and Zuko had excused himself with a headache, Mai went to the courtyard for some air and found that Toph had gotten there first. The earthbender sat back on her hands near the turtleduck pond, her bare feet stretched out before her, her face turned up to a starry sky she would never see. Tendrils of hair were escaping the updo, and the dress was already streaked with dirt and mud. Delicate jeweled slippers with missing soles were floating in the water near a turtleduck, who was quacking at them in puzzlement.

Mai was debating just going back to the bedroom and dealing with her lover's grumbling when the girl said, "I know you're there. Why don't you quit creeping around like some cave-hopper and come talk to me?"

"I could have you whipped and chained for speaking to me like that," Mai told her as she settled on a patch of grass, folding her gown under her knees.

"You could try," Toph replied with a smile. "Might be fun."

Mai folded her hands in her lap, her bell-like sleeves covering them. "You were the talk of the party. I think I was approached by at least five different men wondering if you were promised to anyone yet. Mostly for their sons, but I think one of them wanted you for himself."

Toph groaned, making a face. "Just like home. I went back to my parents after the comet and told them that if they were going to pull the same stunts, that would be the last time they ever saw me. For six months everything was great, and then my birthday rolled around and it's, 'Oh, Toph, you're only three years away from turning sixteen.' 'Oh, Toph, Lord and Lady So and So's daughter is getting married next year. Aren't weddings grand?' 'Oh, Toph, there's this boy we want you to meet.' I had to get away from them, so I took the next boat here." She gestured at Mai, though she still faced straight ahead. "Look, Blades, I played the perfect guest for Zuko because I know this stuff matters to his position and all, but you can bet all the knives you're hiding there's no way I'd ever be interested in some Fire Nation party boy who thinks he's too good for the rest of us."

Mai's lips quirked up the tiniest little bit. Toph turned her head in Mai's direction, those pale eyes gazing past her. "I can tell you're laughing on the inside."

"You have an interesting way of expressing things."

"I tell it like I see it."

This time Mai couldn't stop the laugh from escaping her lips. Upon hearing it, Toph grinned like a satisfied cat owl. For a moment they sat in companionable silence.

"They don't get it, you know," the younger girl said suddenly. "Aang and the others, I mean. At first they were sympathetic, but they got sick of hearing about my childhood. Katara's all like, 'poor baby, waited on hand and foot, never had to mend your clothes because you could always just buy new ones.' Like money means anything."

"All it does is buy a nicer cage," said Mai.

"Where you have to behave..." Toph added.

"...and sit still..."

"...and not speak unless spoken to..."

"and keep out of trouble."

"They had freedom!" Toph blurted. "When Aang came out of the iceberg, they all just up and went and traveled wherever they wanted! I had to sneak out in the dead of night! I had to escape guys who tried to drag me back to my parents in a metal box!" She drew her knees up to her chin, and when she spoke again her voice was calmer. "Even though sometimes it was cold, and we went hungry, and we were running from you guys, those months I spent training Aang are still some of the best of my entire life."

"I think I followed Azula for the same reason." Mai shifted, stretched her legs. "That, and she would have thrown me into prison if I didn't. But mostly I liked not answering to my mother anymore."

"It's pretty sad when a psycho is a step up from your mom."

"Isn't it?"

Toph sighed. "I'd give up everything to keep that freedom."

Mai ran a finger along a blade. "Some of us just traded one prison for another."

Silence. Then the younger girl said softly, "Is it worth it?"

She didn't hesitate."Yes. Though sometimes...I wonder what it would have been like if Zuko hadn't become Fire Lord; if we had just run away together."

"You'd hate it."

"You're probably right. I do like hot food and soft beds."

Toph yawned, and Mai took the hint. "Okay, I'm going." At the entrance to the hall, she turned. "Sleep well, Toph Bei Fong."

"You too. Try not to cut yourself in your sleep." The earthbender curled up on the ground, her bare feet poking out from under the stained silk.

At the plaza the next day they saw her off personally. As Toph ascended the metal ramp to the ship bound for , Mai suddenly said, "Come back any time."

The blind girl offered her a huge smile. "Don't you worry, Blades. You're never getting rid of me."

As the ship headed for the Gates of Azulon in the distance, smoke puffing up into the air, Zuko said, "I knew you'd like her when you got to know her."

Mai pulled him to her and kissed him, causing a murmur among the onlookers.

"It's not like you to be so...public," he whispered as they headed back to the palanquin.

"Sometimes I like to rattle the bars." she replied.


End file.
